Booking your cruise through yourTravel Agent

[Chicago Boy]

We have just returned from a Trans Atlantic crosssing from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale. Our travel agent made a mistake on our plane tickets that cost us money to fix, it almost cost us our flights and she lied about it. She blamed the airline. We didn't find out she was to blame until after we returned. While on board we booked another cruise for this fall and had the reservation transferred to our travel agent. Had we realized what she had done we would have kept the reservation with Celebrity and not used her agent again. Here are a few things I have learned. Once you give your travel agent a reservation you can not just take it back. The agent has to release it back to the cruise line, you cannot book your own Choice Air or hotel reservations because the agent has the reservation. Everything has to be done through the agent. Just thought I would share what I have learned. I know mistakes happen but the important thing is to own them and not lie about them. When I am lied to I lose trust and in this case the agent loses a client. Hope this info helps.

[steveweese]

Even though most travel agents do a good job a bad one can be miserable. We had one terrible experience and right now book through the cruise lines.

[ariawoman]

Chicago Boy - unless your TA has a penalty for doing so, you could transfer the reservation back to X. As long as you're in the 60 day window.

[Chicago Boy]

Chicago Boy - unless your TA has a penalty for doing so, you could transfer the reservation back to X. As long as you're in the 60 day window.

 

 

Thank you for the info. I called Celebrity's Captains Club and was told the travel agent would have to release the reservation once it had been transferred to them.. In this case, so as not to get messy, we will let her keep the reservation just not use her in the future. You can be sure we will watch everything she does like a hawk. :)

[ghstudio]

One error in the Original post....you can use choice air directly whether or not you booked with a TA or celebrity. The TA does not control your air flights, only your cruise.

[CaroleSS]

Just something to think about.....you can make your own air/hotel reservations outside the TA or cruise line. We book the cruise through a TA, but handle the rest ourselves with no problems.

Edited January 23, 2014 by CaroleSS

[Knolmom]

YourTA books your Choice Air as a courtesy but does not hold the reservation. They are completely separate and have a separate phone number. I asked my TA to check on something on my choice air reservation which they booked for me and they said they could not do that. I had to call them myself.

[Chicago Boy]

One error in the Original post....you can use choice air directly whether or not you booked with a TA or celebrity. The TA does not control your air flights, only your cruise.

 

 

Thank you for pointing out my error. After your post, I called the Captain's club again and this time I was told that we could book our flights through Choice Air ourselves but our hotel had to be booked through the travel agent.

[CathyCruises]

Thank you for pointing out my error. After your post, I called the Captain's club again and this time I was told that we could book our flights through Choice Air ourselves but our hotel had to be booked through the travel agent.

 

What??? That makes no sense to me, unless you are doing some type of package, which it doesn't sound like you are. I have always made y hotel reservations (and Choice Air flights) on my own regardless if I've booked through the cruise line or a TA. This may be a case of needing to call back and speaking to another person.

[ptrpanpens]

Even though most travel agents do a good job a bad one can be miserable. We had one terrible experience and right now book through the cruise lines.

 

If you book on board and celebrity has a travel agent on file they will automatically assign the reservation unless you sign a form instructing them not to. I just had this happen on the Silhouette.

 

Unless the perks are substantial I never use a travel agent. If the perks are at least 250-300 I may transfer within the 60 day period but check prices at least once a day and watch everything the agent does compulsively. I never let the TA book the flights or hotels. Sometimes i may take a recommendation for a hotel but always check it out extensively myself. Most travel agents do not know where people want to stay or what is important to them in hotels, so I always do it myself.

[fleckle]

What??? That makes no sense to me, unless you are doing some type of package, which it doesn't sound like you are. I have always made y hotel reservations (and Choice Air flights) on my own regardless if I've booked through the cruise line or a TA.

Same here. It sounds like a simple case of miscommunication.

 

How would the cruise line or the TA even know what hotel you have booked or how you booked it, unless you told them.

 

[Fouremco]

We have just returned from a Trans Atlantic crosssing from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale. Our travel agent made a mistake on our plane tickets that cost us money to fix, it almost cost us our flights and she lied about it. She blamed the airline. We didn't find out she was to blame until after we returned. While on board we booked another cruise for this fall and had the reservation transferred to our travel agent. Had we realized what she had done we would have kept the reservation with Celebrity and not used her agent again. Here are a few things I have learned. Once you give your travel agent a reservation you can not just take it back. The agent has to release it back to the cruise line, you cannot book your own Choice Air or hotel reservations because the agent has the reservation. Everything has to be done through the agent. Just thought I would share what I have learned. I know mistakes happen but the important thing is to own them and not lie about them. When I am lied to I lose trust and in this case the agent loses a client. Hope this info helps.

My first question is has the TA made restitution for the additional costs you incurred, and perhaps thrown in something extra for your troubles? You don't mention the dollar cost involved, but if was her mistake, she should definitely be compensating you.

 

My second question is what would it cost you to simply cancel the reservation and rebook, either directly through Celebrity or with a new TA. There's absolutely no way that I would continue with a TA who makes errors of this magnitude and then has the audacity to lie about it. Mistakes I can forgive, but not the lies.

[purrlinda]

Most travel agents do not know where people want to stay or what is important to them in hotels, so I always do it myself.

 

If you have a travel agent who takes the time to get to know you, your preferences, and your needs, they certainly can make recommendations for you and make your life easier.

 

To some people, this kind of service is still really valuable.

[alcpa1]

Chicago Boy,

As others have noted you can and should ask the TA for a release. If the TA balks or requests a change fee you should point out the issues she/he caused and request a waiver of a change fee. Why keep the booking with the TA you have come to distrust?

 

No TA has to book your hotel unless you have a Celebrity combo which includes air, hotel and transfer. Under this scenario the hotel would actually be booked by Celebrity BUT you could have a choice of price points. The TA would handle the arrangements of choice. And never assume that the cruise line hotel price is the same as a self booked hotel.

 

Cruise Air has its benefits but it also has substantial issues. These tickets MAY come with restrictions that even the fine print does not display. For more information about Cruise Air, for future reference, check out the Cruise Air Forum. At the top there is a Sticky dedicated to the potential pitfalls of Cruise Air.

 

Now, it is your responsibility to monitor every aspect of your cruise arrangements. You did not indicate the flight error. Was it an inadequate connection time? Was it flight time changes that you were not aware of? It is your responsibility to know what is transpiring.

It is the height of folly to leave your cruise in someone else's hands entirely.

 

I hope your next cruise goes well but do become more pro-active.

[labrador2]

Just found out that I cannot get a fare reduction unless my travel agent does it. Saw a $500 reduction last night....travel agent closed until Monday. X told me that the agent would have to call them herself as I don't have the rights to change anything. X was very helpful and hopefully they will work with me but another disadvantage to booking the cruise with a travel agent.

[gordylad]

I would have thought it would have been in the interests of travel agents to operate a service at least on a Saturday with that being the most likely day people will book,

[happy 2 b cruising]

:mad:

Just found out that I cannot get a fare reduction unless my travel agent does it. Saw a $500 reduction last night....travel agent closed until Monday. X told me that the agent would have to call them herself as I don't have the rights to change anything. X was very helpful and hopefully they will work with me but another disadvantage to booking the cruise with a travel agent.

 

Sometimes the reductions or special promo's only last over the weekend and you are out of luck. My TA's agency is open on Saturday so I am able to use a different TA if she is not there. TA's are great for additional OBC and complicated travel otherwise book yourself and you will be in control and have less headaches.

[woldig120]

We are British and have used the same TA in the UK for several years. They are only a small company but very good. Have changed the deposit from one cruise to another and we have kept our OBC

Decided last year to use another TA. They made several mistakes. One was getting my wife,s name wrong another being the wrong amount of OBC being shown on the invoice.

On our next cruise to the Caribbean our TA has changed our flights for the return leg. They are open on Saturday and Sunday mainly for new bookings but will answer other problems.

[Algebralovr]

We have just returned from a Trans Atlantic crosssing from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale. Our travel agent made a mistake on our plane tickets that cost us money to fix, it almost cost us our flights and she lied about it. She blamed the airline. We didn't find out she was to blame until after we returned. While on board we booked another cruise for this fall and had the reservation transferred to our travel agent. Had we realized what she had done we would have kept the reservation with Celebrity and not used her agent again. Here are a few things I have learned. Once you give your travel agent a reservation you can not just take it back. The agent has to release it back to the cruise line, you cannot book your own Choice Air or hotel reservations because the agent has the reservation. Everything has to be done through the agent. .

 

With this information, I hope your TA made good on the flights and reimbursed your out if pocket expenses. Your don't say whether this is an independent agent or one with a larger agency. If a larger agency, you might go over the agent's head and ask for restitution if the TA has been unresponsive.

 

You might also look into small claims court to re-coup your out of pocket expenses. I'm not a fan of going to court for every little thing, but if the out of pocket expenses were substantial, it might be worth it.

 

If you are really unhappy with the TA and the TA has not provided services for this particular cruise, I would still ask the TA to release the cruise back to Celebrity, and possibly even tell them that after the last experience you just do not have confidence in them, and good luck with other clients, if it won't lose much by canceling and re-booking directly with X, that is certinally an option, if you choose litigation over expenses due to the problems for the last cruis, I'm not sure why the TA would want to keep your cruise! I also wonder if you could force them to release the cruise if there were litigation involved due to negligence on the part of the TA.